Cold As Stone
by Nightshade's sydneylover150
Summary: A wish made on a cold night…


**Title** : Cold As Stone

 **Author** : Nightshade sydneylover150 (livejournal sydneylover150)

 **Disclaimer** : I own nothing. Star Trek belongs to Gene Roddenberry and Paramount Pictures. The Reboot franchise belongs to JJ Abrams, Paramount, and whoever they had directing/producing for Star Trek Beyond

 **Rating** : PG 13 for Jim's potty mouth

 **Summary** : A wish made on a cold night…

 **Beta** : MashKitty on Yahoo

 **For** : KSAdvent

 **Prompt** : I was inspired by the following prompts (Key word is inspired,)112. Sometimes wishing on a star does bring you what you want.

J. S. J. S. J

"Starlight, Star bright. First star I see tonight," Jim whispered as he caught a glimpse of a the stars as the teenager leaned forward to protect his body against the cold wind. It seemed as if the wind was blowing right through him.

Jim was so tired after working ten hours straight of community service at the high school. It had been decided since Jim had altered his personal records regarding his 'stay' on Tarsus IV that his punishment should be cleaning up the school before it was officially closed from the winter break. The teenager had been informed he was required to do the community service in order to 'pay the community back' for not only the alternation to his own records, but also for his behavior since his return from Tarsus IV.

' _As if anyone would act all goodie two shoes after they got sent to that hell hole_.' Jim thought glumly as he attempted to pull his coat tighter together in an effort to starve off the wind. Jim's mother had decided since he had misbehaved at school, he did not deserve to have new warm clothes.

When he had started walking home from the school building where he had been doing community service at 4 pm, there had still been some sunlight. Now, all that was left was some starlight, the frosty wind, and the snow. It was so cold.

' _It was never like this when…_ ' Jim started to think, but it seemed as if the thought disappeared from his mind before he was even able to complete it.

All Jim wanted…. No, he'd never have it, so why wish for it?

Jim felt like his feet were frozen to the bone as he continued to force his feet to take one step after another through the shin deep snow.

' _So, so cold_.' Jim thought, his eyes squinting against the harsh wind as he desperately searched for a sign that he was almost home. ' _All I want to do is sleep._ '

He was in the snow before he realized it. His feet had finally given out. Jim tried to get up, really he did, but he was so cold. So he lay in the snow, staring at the stars in the frosty sky.

' _Starlight, star bright, first star I see tonight._ ' Jim thought lazily as he stared at the dark sky and the Eridanus constellation. ' _I wish I may, I wish I might. Have this wish, I wish tonight._ '

As his eyes began to slide shut, a light blinded him, but Jim was too far gone to care.

S. J. S. J. S

Spock stared at the boy lying in the snow. He looked barely over the age of 11 and yet something in the boy's face made him seem much older. Spock could not tell how long the boy had been out in the brutal weather, but it appeared based on the fresh tracks and the wind pattern, that the boy had only recently collapsed. Spock knew no matter what that the boy needed to be taken out of the weather and given shelter. A hospital would be the most beneficial place for the boy, but the com system in Spock's vehicle had announced that local authorities had issued a "level 3 snow emergency" which forbade people from driving out on the roads that were not emergency personnel. From what his mother had explained to Spock in regards to the confusing Earth system, this meant the boy could not be taken to the hospital and it was unlikely emergency services would come to get him. Spock's family's current residence would have to provide the boy with shelter. Spock knew he could handle the human if the boy were to foolishly attempt to at Spock. Vulcans, even a half Vulcan, were much stronger than humans.

Without another thought, Spock lifted the boy into his arms in a manner that his mother had referred to as a "bridal carry," although Spock did not understand his mother's reference. Spock gently placed the boy in Spock's vehicle and made sure the boy was securely in the vehicle's back seat. Before closing the door, Spock's finger grazed some of the bare skin on the boy's neck. A small familiar electric charge ran through Spock, but he dismissed it. It was likely the boy or even Spock had generated an electric charge due to the weather. Spock quickly moved around the vehicle and got into the driver's seat.

'This weather is illogical. What would cause any logical being to live in this type of weather?' Spock thought to himself. 'Humans are more illogical than I thought.'

J. S. J. S. J.

When Jim awoke he was no longer feeling the cold... in fact, he felt… warm. It took the young a man a few minutes to realize that he was wrapped in some heavy green and blue blankets. Jim quickly tried to get up, only to find that his body had not quite forgiven him yet for subjecting it to the frigid cold and snow for 3 hours. Jim felt the pain shooting up and down his arms, legs, and spine. His head was going to split in two, Jim just knew it was.

Moving to sit up, slowly this time, Jim took in the room around him. It was minimally decorated and there were neat stacks of pads on a simple and plan wooden desk. There were no holos, vids, and keepsakes which would give Jim a clue of where he had been taken. Jim decided he needed to get up. It would be better to meet the person who lived in this room on his feet then lying in a bed. Tarsus had taught Jim that at least.

His entire body protested as the teenager slowly pushed his body to the edge of the bed and then pushed himself off of it. He swayed for a few minutes before he managed to steady himself. Jim gingerly walked to the desk to see if it offered further clues to the owner of the room. All the pads were off, but Jim found the switch for the top most pad only to find a whole bunch of swirls and circles with lines through them. Jim had seen quite a few languages during his time on Tarsus, but he had never seen this one. Yet it seemed familiar for some reason. Sliding into a straight back chair, the teen quickly searched through all of the pads to see if any could offer him insight into who the person was that had brought Jim to this room.

He had almost given up on finding a pad that was in Standard when a familiar alphabet popped up on the screen. Jim started reading what was on the pad only to find it was an application to Starfleet.

"You are out of bed." A voice came from behind Jim causing the pad to slip out of Jim's hands as he whipped around to defend himself.

S. J. S. J. S.

Spock had observed the boy searching through his pads. The boy had not followed the behavioral pattern Spock had predicted the boy would follow based on the education about humans that Spock had received from his instructors at the Vulcan Academy. Instead of searching Spock out, the boy had decided to search for something to tell him his location. Spock had calculated the boy's likelihood of proceeding in the course of behavior as being at twelve percent as humans are known to be impulsive and illogical, seeking to first interact with their captors than gathering intelligence on them. The only human Spock knew that would not act illogically in a similar situation was his mother and his father had informed his mother's behavior was due to accepting and devoting herself to a Vulcan way of life.

"You are out of bed." Spock stated. The boy whipped around, losing his grip on the pad as he turned. Spock watched as his application to Starfleet dropped on the ground as the boy acted on his unchecked emotions.

Spock looked at the boy fully for first time in the light and could not help feeling a sense of recognition.

' _Illogical, I have never met this boy. He is just a human._ '

"I had predicted you would sleep for another 7.5 hours." Spock stated as he realized the boy was staring at him.

"You got me out of the cold." The boy stated. Spock did not understand the statement as the boy, human though he was, surely could have come to the correct conclusion. It may be plausible that the boy had suffered damage to his mind from the cold, though it was more likely that the boy was of limited intelligence as were many humans.

"Affirmative. You appeared to have been outside for a period of no less than 2.5 hours and have potentially suffered brain damage causing a further decrease in your limited human cognitive functioning."

The boy just started at him.

J. S. J. S. J.

' _Did he just say what I think he said?_ ' Jim scoffed internally as he stared blankly at the older boy, realizing for the first time that his savior was a Vulcan. ' _It appears what they say about Vulcans is true. Arrogant to the core. At least this one got me warmed up._ '

"Um no. Try four hours. It didn't get really cold until five o'clock. I'd been walking home from the high school in the town proper, but a lot of the road shortcuts home were blocked off due to the earlier snowfall."

"Would it not have been more logical to take the public transportation service to obtain transport home?" The Vulcan teen asked (' _is he a teen? How do Vulcans age anyways?_ ').

Jim could not help rolling his eyes, ' _Is this guy for real?_ '

"Dude, there is no public transportation out this far. I live in the country. We really don't have public transportation that runs out here unless you have money to pay for it." Jim explained while fighting with himself to keep a sarcastic tone from entering into his voice.

The Vulcan teen cocked his head and Jim could not help but think ' _damn, he is hot._ ' Jim could practically see the wheels turning the other teen's head. "Do you not have parental units to escort you home? I was informed that human children are often taken to and from events by their parents."

Jim could not help it, he laughed. ' _Parental units? Really? That's awesome._ '

"Man, you crack me up. First of all we don't call them parental units, figures, or any other fancy term out here." Jim shook his head and chuckled as he replayed the other teen's comment in his head. "Plus I don't have those. At least no one that is on planet who cares."

"I was led to believe that your race spends large amounts of time with family at this time of year indulging in frivolous shows of merriment instead of logically focusing on one's studies." The Vulcan asked in his monotone voice.

Despite his internal battle between amusement and annoyance, Jim could not help but notice that the Vulcan's face seemed expressionless, but his eyes held a look of curiosity.

' _I wonder what it is that he is thinking?_ '

S. J. S. J. S.

Spock continued to keep his glaze level as he looked at the younger teenager, as Spock had finally concluded that was what the boy had to be despite his size. Spock did not understand why the younger teenager's show of emotions.

' _So wasteful…_ ' Spock wryly thought, but something about the boy's reaction seemed familiar to the young Vulcan.

The boy appeared to have finally settled on one emotional response, but Spock was unable to determine which emotion the teenager had chosen.

"If you mean that Earth kids tend to have a Winter Break around this time, then you'd be right. But not everyone gets to have 'frivolous shows of merriment.' Some of us gotta work in order to pay off debts."

"I did not know that human children incur financial hardship at early ages. Does your species often incur debt and how does this happen at such a young age?" Spock asked, while taking care to control his emotional response of curiosity. Spock remembered his father's constant lessons to be more Vulcan and less human.

This time the human cocked his head. "Nah, dude. I meant not everyone comes from homes where they can afford extra crap."

The teenager paused almost as if he was contemplating something, although, Spock's father had informed him that humans rarely were contemplative as they acted on basic instinct more than logic and fact.

"As for me…. Well since you got me out of the cold, I might as well tell you. I was doing community service to keep out of juvie." The boy stated plainly while looking at Spock. "In words you might understand. I got into some minor legal trouble by hacking into the school's computer system after getting back from T… off planet because I wanted to erase the record of where I was off planet. Apparently the school didn't like that."

"You are a criminal." Spock was thankful that as a Vulcan he was much stronger and smarter than a human criminal as surely the teenager would have attempted to harm him if he was not a Vulcan.

"I don't consider myself one. I can see how someone might consider me to be one, though why would it be a crime for me to eliminate data about where I was so people would stop telling me how I should feel about it? Or telling me if I'd only have behaved, I wouldn't have been sent off planet and been where I was in the first place." The teen stated and for some reason, Spock could not fault the boy's rationalization. Had Spock not wished in the past that he could eliminate his classmates' knowledge of his hybrid genetics?

"You are being purposely vague." Spock observed.

"Listen, I owe you, but I don't owe you enough to tell you things I hate talking about it. Plus it is not like I'm going to kill you or harm you. It wasn't that type of crime and I'm not that type of person. Everyone desire privacy and respect man. I know you might not get that because of your logic, but it's the truth." The boy stated. "Either way, we're getting off on the wrong foot. I don't know your name and you don't know mine."

Spock took a second to process what the teenager had said. He did understand what the younger teenager was saying.

"Agreed. I am Spock." Spock stated giving the teenager a ta'al

"Cool, nice to meet you Spock!" the boy stated with a hand wave, "I'm Jim. Jim Kirk."

Spock did not know where the name came from, but it escaped his mouth before he had time to stop himself, as shameful as it was for a Vulcan. "James?"

J. S. J. S. J.

"James?" The Vulcan had whispered. Jim had not heard anyone outside of a teacher use his full name for years. And the way the Vulcan had said his full name…. something in Jim clicked into place.

"Spock? Spock Grayson? Is that you?" Jim asked in a rush. He felt like he could barely breathe.

"My mother's last name was Grayson before she came to Vulcan. I have met you before, have I not James?" Jim could tell Spock had meant the question to be a statement, but the Vulcan… half Vulcan, Jim corrected himself… had sounded confused.

"Yea, we know each other. We met when I was 6 and you were 9. You were the coolest person I had ever met! You kept me safe. One day you were here and the next you weren't…" Jim started to say before it felt like something was tugging on his mind.

S. J. S. J. S.

Spock could see his friend struggling. Yes, Jim was his friend, as his mother would say 'the pieces were falling back into place.' His mother had brought Spock to Iowa to visit some relatives when Spock was 9.35-standard-years-old and Spock had met Jim. Despite the age difference, Spock remembered that he had become "fast friends" (another one of his mother's terms) with Jim. The younger boy had been overly intelligent for a human ("Spock that's not nice. Humans can be very intelligent," his mother had said frequently) and did not mind Spock's studious nature.

Spock felt something tugging hard on his mind, almost as if it was trying to prevent Spock from following his thoughts to their logical conclusion… or was it.

"Like something had pulled us a part. Yes. I have felt it." Spock moved closer to Jim and the tugging went away. His hypothesis was proven right. "Someone wanted us a part."

"But now we're together again, right? You won't leave me this time? I saw you were applying for Starfleet, but you aren't going to leave me again are you?" Spock knew it was illogical, but he felt his heart clench in his side at the tone in Jim's voice and the look on the younger teenager's face.

"No Jim, I will not leave you this time." Spock swore as more and more memories returned. "I will protect you this time my friend."

Jim reached out and hugged Spock. Spock was startled for a moment as his friend's emotions rushed though the teenage telepathy's boy before Spock allowed himself to be at ease. His friend's relief and contentment was not a threat to him. He did not need to contain it like they had forced him to do after he was removed from his friend's life in the past.

' _Never again._ ' Spock swore as he felt his friend finally give back into his body's needs. His friend needed sleep to recover and recover he would.

J. S. J. S. J.

As Jim drifted asleep while being hugged in his friends arms, he smiled. For a moment, and only a moment, he could not help but indulge in some childish glee.

' _I got my wish._ '

 **The End**

 **Author's End Note** : I left what happened that caused Spock and Jim to forget each other or at least not actively remember each other vague on purpose. Firstly, I wanted to see what all you wonderful readers out there would come up with and secondly, I'll admit it, I was uncertain where I wanted to take it. I had so many ideas for what happened, that I couldn't decide.

Either way, I hope you liked it and will drop me a review of your thoughts and/or (constructive) criticism.


End file.
